March 2016

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has recently published ranking of Pakistani universities, both general as well as category-wise. The ranking depicts overall position of a particular university vis-à-vis other universities in the country without shedding any light on the academic atmosphere and quality of teaching and learning within the institutions. The question is whether higher education has fulfilled the promises …

Every nation on this planet covets progress and development in every field of life. But, it is also a reality that while some countries are making huge headways in the realm of progress and development, others are still grappling with extreme poverty. Latest data suggest that nearly 1.3 billion people live in extreme poverty — less than $1.25 a day. …

Einstein, once reached by Grenville Clark of Dublin and asked, “Dr Einstein, why is it that when the mind of man has stretched so far as to discover the structure of the atom we have been unable to devise the political means to keep the atom from destroying us?” The sage physicist replied: “That is simple my friend: because politics …

The year 2015 assumed significance from many events; some were positive while some augured ill for the future. But this is far from a simple method to state the condition or group different happenings. When the deal between the P5+1 and Iran was struck, there were jubilations in Iran but Israel and Saudi Arabia could see insidious clouds covering their …

The relationship of man with the forests is as old as the human history itself. This relation has been akin to that what man, today, has with the big cities. It were the forests that provided man with food to satisfy his hunger, with space to make his abodes, with clothes to adorn his body, with medicinal plants to get …

In public service, morale is an indication of a sound employment situation and a positive means of building an efficient and effective organization to achieve its goals smoothly. We can strongly infer that it arises out of a socio-psychological situation or a state of mind in which persons voluntarily seek to enhance their potentials to accomplish the task they are …

Public debt in the country has exceeded the subscribed limit of 60pc of GDP placed on it by the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation (FRDL) Act, 2005. It has happened because of excessive fiscal deficits in the past years. For instance, the fiscal deficit in 2012-13 was 8.2pc of GDP. An immediate explanation for large fiscal deficits is inadequate tax …

The ‘clash of empires’ between the US and Soviet Union, which characterized the post-war era and that culminated in more bitter conflicts and a race for control over Asia, ended in more of a whimper than a full-fledged armed conflict. The Soviet empire collapsed with the surge of a reinvigorated Anglo-Saxon belief in its moral and economic principles and with …

The Renaissance in Europe started roughly from the 14th century and went on all through 17th century AD. During this period, enviable advancements were made on political, religious, industrial, social, cultural and intellectual fronts. New administrative and geostrategic horizons were explored. Germany, France, Britain and then United States of America became the superpowers. Actually, Europe had emerged from a culture …

Everyone wants to be successful in life. Parents are so much obsessed with the future of their kids that they start planning their career even before their birth. How success can be achieved is a difficult question, however. Since every person subscribes to different concepts and meanings of success, ways and means of becoming successful are also different quite understandably. …